AG ANNOUNCES ADDITIONAL CONVICTIONS FOR SERIAL OFFENDER ALREADY SERVING LIFE SENTENCE FOR PREVIOUS COLD CASE CONVICTION
(MONTGOMERY)—Attorney General Luther Strange announced that his Cold Case Unit has achieved additional convictions against a man who has multiple previous violent convictions and is already serving a life sentence for a case investigated by the unit.
Patrick O’Neal Warren pleaded guilty yesterday to first-degree rape and attempted murder in Jefferson County Circuit Court. Warren admitted his guilt in attacks upon two women, one in March of 2008, and another in December of 2008. In both cases, Warren used a knife against his victims. He was sentenced today to two additional life sentences, to run concurrently with the one he is serving.
Warren currently is incarcerated for an April of 2006 robbery in Calhoun County, to which he pleaded guilty in December of 2011. Specifically, Warren pleaded guilty to attacking an Anniston woman at knifepoint and then stealing her vehicle and money. He received the maximum sentence of life imprisonment due to two prior felony convictions in 2001: for a Hale County robbery in which he used a knife, and for a Jefferson County rape in which he used a knife.
“This is an extremely dangerous man who repeatedly committed violent crimes and who would be a threat to the community if he was ever released,” said Attorney General Strange. “With these additional life sentences, he should spend the rest of his life in prison so that our society will be safe from his vicious crimes.”
The Attorney General’s Cold Case Unit is a project conducted in partnership with the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, to investigate violent crimes that previously had been closed due to lack of investigative leads. The program is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice.
The Attorney General commended Special Agents of his Cold Case Unit and thanked the Jefferson County District Attorney Brandon Fall’s office, noting in particular Assistant Deputy District Attorney Julie McMakin, for prosecution of the cases that resulted in yesterday’s convictions. Valuable assistance was provided throughout the Warren cases by the Bessemer, Birmingham and Anniston police departments.
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